LAGOS, Nigeria – Olam Agri, a leading agribusiness in food, feed, and fibre, has spotlighted the enormous potential within the African food value chain.
Anil Nair, Country Head of Olam Agri’s Nigeria operations, highlighted this potential during the Market Access Africa Conference organised by the African Agri Council in Lagos on Wednesday, June 26, 2024.
He emphasised that Africa’s food trade deficit could be offset by improving crop yields across the continent.
Nair pointed out that, despite Africa’s substantial share of global arable land, the continent’s current crop yield falls below the global average. He noted that Africa possesses vast uncultivated lands that could be better utilised.
“Africa has 18% of the world’s arable land and 18% of the world’s population,” Nair explained. “With a total land mass of 3 billion hectares, 253 million hectares are arable, of which 203 million are used for crop production, leaving 50 million hectares available for cultivation as temporary fallow lands and temporary meadows and pastures.”
He detailed Africa’s agricultural output: “On these 203 million hectares of cropped land, Africa produces approximately 250 million tons of cereals and coarse grains, including Maize (92 million tons), Sorghum (29 million tons), Millet (15 million tons), Rice (39 million tons), Wheat (27 million tons), Barley (6 million tons), and Teff (6 million tons). In addition to cereals, Africa grows significant quantities of tubers such as Cassava (208 million tons), Yam (86 million tons), Potato (27 million tons), and Sweet Potato (29 million tons).”
Nair maintained that Africa should not be a net food importer, citing strong crop varieties but pointed out that low crop yields are among several factors hindering higher agricultural productivity on the continent.
“Africa’s crop yields are significantly lower than the world averages,” Nair stated. “The average cereal yield in Africa is just 1.6 tons per hectare compared to the global average of 4 tons per hectare, which is 60% less. Specifically, Africa’s rice yield is 2.35 tons per hectare, half of the world average. Africa consumes about 38 million tons of rice annually, with 15 million tons being imported. The continent cultivates approximately 16.5 million hectares for paddy, producing nearly 39 million tons of paddy or 22-23 million tons of finished rice.”
Nair highlighted Olam Agri’s Rice Farm in Nigeria as an example of successful yield improvement, achieving 4.6 tons per hectare compared to the continent’s average of 2.35 tons per hectare.
He identified factors contributing to low crop yields in Africa, including the low use of fertiliser, limited adoption of mechanised farming, smallholder farmers’ lack of access to modern agronomic training, insufficient financing opportunities, and inadequate road infrastructure. Additionally, post-harvest losses, which could be reduced by investing in storage facilities, also impact productivity.
Reiterating the need for innovative and sustainable solutions, Nair stated, “Achieving significant growth in Africa’s food production value chain requires investment in crop yield improvement. Olam Agri, founded in Nigeria over 34 years ago, continues to leverage its global expertise and investment focus to drive growth in the food value chain.”
He concluded by expressing Olam Agri’s belief in Africa’s potential and called for strong partnerships and focused policy regimes to enhance productivity in the food production value chain.
About Olam Agri
Olam Agri is a market leading, differentiated food, feed and fibre agri-business with a global origination footprint, processing capabilities and deep understanding of market needs built over 33 years. With a strong presence in high-growth emerging markets and products across grains & oilseeds, integrated feed & protein, rice, edible oils, specialty grains & seeds, cotton, wood products, rubber and commodity financial services, Olam Agri is at the heart of global food and agri-trade flows with 38.3 million MT in volume traded in 2022. Focused on transforming food, feed, and fibre for a more sustainable future, it aims at creating value for customers, enable farming communities to prosper sustainably and strive for a food-secure future. Olam Agri is a fully owned subsidiary of Olam Group. For more information and to subscribe to our news alerts, please visit https://www.olamagri.com/.
About Olam Group
Olam Group is a leading food and agri-business supplying food, ingredients, feed, and fibre to 20,200 customers worldwide. Our value chain spans over 60 countries and includes farming, processing, and distribution operations, as well as a global network of farmers. Through our purpose to ‘Re-imagine Global Agriculture and Food Systems’, Olam Group aims to address the many challenges involved in meeting the needs of a growing global population, while achieving positive impact for farming communities, our planet and all our stakeholders. Headquartered and listed in Singapore, Olam Group currently ranks among the top 30 largest primary listed companies in terms of market capitalization on SGX-ST.
Since June 2020, Olam Group has been included in the FTSE4Good Index Series, a global sustainable investment index series developed by FTSE Russell, following a rigorous assessment of Olam’s supply chain activities, impact on the environment and governance transparency. The FTSE4Good Index Series identifies companies that demonstrate strong Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) practices and is used by a variety of market participants to create and assess responsible investment funds. More information on Olam can be found at www.olamgroup.com.
